ms swiss is looking at hiring some studio space and is being quoted £7 per square foot. mr google appears to concur but i have a feeling that for central scotland this may be a bit cheeky. anyone got any advice for me? ta

Where in central scotland, and what sort of space are you looking at?

I bet its like birthday party vs weddings, the price of the space is more if its ‘artist space’ whereas an office or workshop with a bit of natural light is much less sexy/costly. A friend has just started renting a tiny unit for storage and making jewellery, (not sure if natural light is as important for jewellery) round the back of some crappy old workshops/shops, nothing like £7 per square foot. More like £1 per square foot per month!

we’re in perth and the space we’re looking at is a big old partitioned building. nothing fancy, probably very cold in winter! ms swiss is a felt maker so in addition to power needs water and drainage which is proving problematic. these studios aren’t ideal from that perspective but she’s had zero luck with finding workspace elsewhere

Swiss – have you looked at anything down the habour Rd?

as far as i’m aware she hasn’t geoff. any suggestions?

Swiss, a friend of mine has just taken office space near the keepsafe place on the harbour rd. He’s got a large showroom / office, a smaller back office, a small kitchen and toilet which he pays about £400 per month for.

There appear to be plenty of office and units empty down there, and at Friarton, which would be looking into. Good luck.

Sorry I quizzed you on what you were looking for then had to head out to collect someone from the airport so couldn’t reply.

For the £7/sq ft its a question of what you are getting that make it “Studio Space” rather than just space. If its a dedicated studio complex, an interesting mix of peers, good light, a bit of charm, passing trade and public profile, promotion, open studio events, a relationship with your local arts development team….. that kind of thing then its money worth spending if you want those things, especially if that £7 is inclusive – of rates, heat, light, and the contract is exclusive of things like responsibilities to insure, maintain and reinstate.

If “Studio Space” is a euphemism for “ugly former commercial premises with shit parking looking for short term tenants while the owner gets ready to knock it down and replace it with flats, although he possibly might never get round to doing that or fixing the roof” then £7 is too much.

As a felt maker theres not much you’d need from a space, apart from a window, a light bulb, a sink and a lock on the door. So you’d only want to seek out and pay a premium from “Artist Space” if you were seeking the company of other artists, or wanted the profile, promotion and passing trade it might generate.

If you don’t need those things then its worth thinking outside the box a little. I’ve used managed and less managed artist studio spaces over the years, but I don’t really need the support they offer and I don’t get on with the crap access most of them have (and I also don’t really get on terribly well with other artists), so I’ve also sourced my own spaces. The way I do that is…… I advertise….. and say I’m looking for one, in Adtrader, Gumtree or whatever and more often or not someone who has space they weren’t even thinking of letting out will get in touch because the idea of having an artist around appeals to them.

So I’ve had a 16 Century byre in fife thrown in for free with a house, a huge former milking shed in ayrshire for £50/month and now I’ve got a 4000sq/ft estate sawmill and yard. I got the idea from another artist who advertised in the same way and now works in the drawing room of a mothballed country manor, The owners just wanted to know someone was going to be looking out for the place from day to day, so she got the drawing room thrown if for free when she rented the gatehouse to live in.

If you don’t do either the managed artist studio thing or the informal friendly space in the corner of someone’s steading thing, then the main issue to be aware of with conventional commercial properties are how onerous the lease is. Its a much more grown up thing, with potentially higher stakes than you might be expecting or want to have to worry about.

nothing like £7 per square foot. More like £1 per square foot per month!

That’ll be £12 per square foot then 🙂 which is indeed nothing like £7

maccruiskeen that is a fine and useful reply. i shall get her on to the advertising thing. as it’s turned out, given the space is in the centre of town, has an exhibition space and is available at all hours it turns out that it’ll be me who’s primarily using the space which will both be a bit of a novelty and might actually force me to commit to working a bit harder

the company of other artists? it may well be fraught but i figure it won;t be less than entertaining!